Curb crew blunders mean heat for Nickels

Mayor Greg Nickels stood by transportation chief Grace Crunican on Monday amid sharpened criticisms from his mayoral opponents and reports that lax oversight contributed to shoddy street work that had to be redone.

"The eyes of the city are on her, and she knows that," Nickels' spokesman Alex Fryer said Monday. "They know what their mission is. Their mission is to improve the performance of the department in every facet."

Nickels, in Washington, D.C., to meet with President Obama as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, did not make himself available for an interview with The Seattle Times.

The Times reported Sunday that at least eight projects — including wheelchair ramps, a Pioneer Square crosswalk and 350 feet of First Avenue South curbing — had to be redone because of poor workmanship. The shoddy work on six of the projects cost the city at least $195,600 and was the product of lax oversight and poor communication in the street-maintenance division, The Times reported.

Until the newspaper began asking about the mistakes last month, the city didn't systematically track errors within its $26.4 million annual street-repair budget. The botched projects were brought to The Times' attention by department workers who were embarrassed by the work.

In a half-hour discussion on radio station KUOW Monday morning, Nickels said he did not believe the number of projects that had to be redone was particularly troublesome because they were few in number and relatively small in cost.

"You know, human beings are apt to make a mistake once in a while," Nickels said. "For them to make a half-dozen mistakes during a year is certainly a concern. We don't want to waste any of our transportation dollars. But if you take a look at any transportation organization in the U.S. and in the world, they stack up pretty well."

Fryer said the mayor learned about the do-over projects when his staff briefed him last week on the findings of The Times' inquiry.

On Monday, City Councilmember Jan Drago, who is opposing Nickels for mayor, questioned Crunican's leadership and said voters should hold the mayor accountable for failing to stay on top of management issues at the department.

"If the mayor refuses to hold anyone in the transportation department accountable for management failures, then the people of Seattle should hold the mayor accountable," Drago said in a written statement. "This administration's response to management failures has been to announce that the deputy mayor would meet with the transportation department 'every two weeks' and that 'no one is losing their job over this.' "

Another mayoral candidate, James Donaldson, took Nickels and Drago to task over problems in the transportation department. He said Nickels was incompetent and Drago, who chairs the council's Transportation Committee, was part of the problem. Donaldson's statement suggested people "take up pitchforks and drive the monster from the castle."

Crunican wouldn't comment on the scrutiny that has surrounded her department since its inept handling of the December snowstorm. She said she has worked well with the council in the past and intends to maintain that relationship.

Drago has been a reliable Crunican supporter and credited her Monday with outshining her predecessors on big projects. But, Drago added, "there's two sides to that coin."

Drago stopped short of saying that if elected mayor she would fire Crunican.

Drago has met at least twice a month with Crunican for briefings before her Transportation Committee meetings for the past four years. Last week, after questioning Crunican at a council meeting, Drago announced she will require Crunican to report on her department at every Transportation Committee meeting. Crunican said she learned of Drago's new requirement only from a news release, and that she and Drago have not discussed it.

Crunican confirmed Monday that she never discussed with Drago management problems that were uncovered as part of a $515,000 discrimination investigation into the street-maintenance division. But Crunican did discuss them with the mayor, she said.

Drago took exception to the lack of disclosure to the council: "The mayor's playing hide the ball with the council, and we're the last to know."

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com